Float operated valve for oil wells



Dec. 18, 1934. 'r. w. HARRINGTON FLOAT OPERATED VALVE FOR O IL WELLS 5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28, 1955 Inventor J (2}. a XL 4 Home y W i Wa T W. v 1 w M 1 a M M I y f 5 7 J 4 J f W1 .1 .0 0M0 A 1M. y 7fi 6 7Dec. 18, 1934. T. w. HARRINGTON FLOAT OPERATED VALVE FOR OIL WE LLSFiled March 28, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Inventor T dii'a izj 0 v I By fltlomey 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 LIZ/127 2 3022 MT. W. HARRlNGTON Filed March 28, 1935 FLOAT OPERATED VALVE FOR OIL WELLSDec. 18, 1934.

By QM Patented Dec. 18, 1934 l 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOATOPERATED VALVE FOR OIL WELLS Thomas W. Harrington, Kevin, Mont.

Application March 28, 1933, Serial No. 663,221

1 Claim. (Cl. 251-83) Thisinvention relates to a float operated valvetions are formed with seats 11. The casing is for oil wells, the generalobject of the invention also formed with the holes 12 for admittingfluid being to provide means for preventing gas from into the largechamber and with an enlarged entering the tubing during pumping of anoil opening 13 which communicates with the large well. chamber and anoperating lever 14 passes through 5 v Another object of the invention isto provide a the opening 13 and is pivoted to the casing, as balancedvalve which will properly function shown at 15. An elongated valvemember 16 is through float control, especially in wells carryingslidably arranged in the casing and has upper gas pressure. and lowerfluted parts 17 passing through the This invention also consists incertain other upper and lower reduced portions of the chamber, 10features of construction and in the combination each fluted partterminating in a valve part 19 and arrangement of the several parts, tobe herefor engaging the seats 11 when the valve member inafter fullydescribed, illustrated in the accom- 16 is in raised position. Saidmember 16 is panying drawings and specifically pointed out in formedwith an opening 20 for receiving the the appended claim. rounded innerend of the lever 14 and the outer In describing the invention in detail,reference end of the lever is slotted, as shown at 21, to will be had tothe accompanying drawings wherereceive a pin 22 carried by the lower endof a in like characters denote like or corresponding two-part link 23which has its upper forked end parts throughout the several views, andin which: 24 connected to the bottom of a float 25 through Figure 1 is alongitudinal sectional view through means of the lugs 26. Such float hasa central the invention, with the interior parts in elevaopening 2'7therein through which the pipe 7 tion. passes so that the float isslidably arranged on the Figure 2'is an enlarged longitudinal sectionalpipe. I prefer to form said float of a cylinder view through the upperpart of the device. filled with cork rings or the like to prevent theFigure 3 is a similar view through the lower float from collapsing underpressure. 25 part of the device. Guides 27' are attached to the pipe '7for guid- Figure 4 is an elevation, partly in section, of ing the link23 and perforations 28 are formed the Valve in the top of the barrel 3to provide vents for gas Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 3.collecting in the barrel. A slot 29 is formed in 30 Figure 6 is asection on line 6-6 of Figure 3. the valve casing 6 for the link 23 anda by-pass 30 Figure 7 .is a section on line 7--7 of Figure 1. passage 30is formed in the valve casing for equal- Figure 8 is an elevation of thevalve. izing pressure on the valve member. Figure 9 is a view of themember for connect- Thus it will be seen that when the fluid in the 1ing the valve operating lever to the float. well is lowered by thepumping operation, to a Figure 10 is a bottom plan view of the fioat.point opposite the float, said float will drop and 35 In these drawings,the numeral 1 indicates a the lowering motion of the float will rock thelever V bushing which is to be threaded into the bottom 14 through thelink 23 and thus the valve member coupling of an ordinary well pump andthe nu- 16 will be raised so that the valve parts 19 will meral 3indicates a barrel or anchor pipe which engage the seats 11 and thus nogas can pass has its upper end threaded to the lower part of into thepipe 7 and thus enter the pump. When 40 the bushing with its lower endclosed by a plug the liquid in the well reaches a high level again, 4.Holes 5 are formed in an intermediate part the float will move upwardly,thus causing the of the barrel for admitting fluid from the well lever14 to open the valve member 16 so that the in which the device isplaced. A valve casing 6 liquid entering the valve casing through theopenis located in the member 3 and a pipe 7 has its ings 12 and 13 canpass into the pipe 7 and thus lower end connected to the top of thecasing 6, reach the pump. If desired, the lower extension with its'upperend threaded in the lower part of 17 of the valve. member 17 can beweighted to the bore 8' of the bushing 1. An elongated valve balanceextra weight of valve lifter rod 23 when chamber 8 is formed in thecasing 6 with its upper the parts are made of greater length to carryend in communication with the pipe 7 and its a higher fluid level.

lower end in communication with a cylinder 9 The cylinder 10 serves as asediment-catcher which is closed at its bottom. as shown at 10. The andsaid cylinder also prevents the double valve chamber is formed with thereduced upper and assembly from opening farther than desired, and 7lower portions and an enlarged central portion I prefer to make theupper valve parts 1'7 and 19 D5 and the lower ends of the upper andlower porof smaller cross sectional area than the lower parts 17 and 19.By using the two valves'and providing the by-pass 30, a balanced valveassembly is provided which permits free operation of the device underpressure and this arrangement also prevents the valves from remainingclosed by vacuum created by the well pump.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages andnovel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction andin the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided thatsuch changes fall within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:--

In a device of the class described, a vertically arranged casing ofelongated form and provided with a longitudinally extending bore whichpasses from the upper end of the casing through the lower end thereof,upper and lower parts of the walls of the bore forming valve seats, theupper seat being spaced below the upper end of the casing and the lowerseat being spaced above the lower end of the casing, an intermediatepart of the bore, between the seats, being enlarged to form a chamber,said casing having openings therein leading from the chamber through theside walls of the casing, one of the openings being enlarged, anelongated vertically arranged valve stem slidably arranged in the boreand having upper and lower valve parts thereon spaced from the endsthereof for engaging the seats when the stem is in raised position, saidbore having reduced parts engaged by portions of the stem for guidingthe stem in its movement, thelower end of the stem extending beyond thelower end of the casing, a lever pivoted in the enlarged opening andhaving one end engaging the stem, and a tube threaded in the lower endof the bore and having itslower end closed, with the extended lower endof the stem passing into the upper part of the tube, the upper end ofthe tube being engaged by the lower valve part for limiting downwardmovement of the valve stem, and said c'asing having a verticallyarranged by-pass therein having its ends connected with the bore, theupper end communicating with the bore above the upper valve seat and thelower end with the bore below the lower valve seat.

THOMAS W. HARRINGTON.

